Natalie Joy's Musings

9/27/2006

Evaluation

Among my fellow overworked and fed-up bloggers, I'm kinda on the fence. I feel like I'm enjoying my work, but it's all too much drama for me. (No pun intended.) I'm a creature that loves stability, so how the hell did I fall in love with a career that fluctuates so much. I'm really dependent on my dinner-theatre job for income right now, but I get rehearsal (and even show dates!) confirmed to me so last minute that it throws my whole schedule off balance. Is this normal? Possibly. Am I getting used to it yet? Definetely not.

At the moment, I have the pleasure of working on three seperate contracts, all of which have substantial pressure attached to them. Whether it's dealing with scheduling issues, or trying to impress a theatre community that has forgotten me, or moulding fresh talent into skilled employable actors. All of the stress seems to be affecting me in ways I don't at all appreciate. After going a whole summer with only mini-headaches, I've been dealing with a major migraine for five days. And when I have a migraine, I don't perform well, in every sense of the term.

But what boggles my mind about all of this is I'm generally happy. I do love the work I am doing. I'm enjoying living with my parents at the moment. I have a fantastic husband that I love very much. I'm looking forward to moving into a lovely house soon. I'm shopping at IKEA. I'm watching Iron Chef and Restaurant Makeover on the Food network. I'm getting eight hours sleep a night... heck I'm even sleeping in at least once a week.

A good friend of mine told me that I needed to slow down. Not necessarily by cutting out some of my work load, but by taking time to enjoy the little things. She said that I spend so much time planning tomorrow that I don't see today go by. That may be true, but at the same time, I am who I am. If I lost my agenda, I'd lose my mind.

So what's a girl to do? Splurge and get a massage once a month? Say no to some of these last minute commitments that keep presenting themselves even though I need the money? Book time off to go to the movies? Call my friend more often? Stop over-analysing and whingeing?

Hmmmm... I should probably start listening to my own advice.